Denis O’Donovan’s trophy collection continues to grow

DRINAGH’S Denis O’Donovan scooped the Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Sports Star monthly award for March following his success in clinching the 2022/2023 Motorsport Ireland National Navigation Rally Championship. Indeed, it was his second such victory in three years.

He is the first – and so far, the only – West Cork competitor to achieve this feat. Along with his driver Mallow’s Derek Butler, they are only the second ever Cork crew to win the National Navigation Championship series. In the 1989/1990 season, Glounthaune’s Luke McCarthy and Dromtarriffe’s James O’Brien were the first all-Cork crew to win the title.

Navigation rallying is a discipline of the sport that is not as prominent as rallying itself. From the mid 1960s until 1978, it formed part of the National Rally Championship. Since then, they have been run as separate championships.

Naturally, O’Donovan is delighted at his national success. But, like so many others, he also recognises the importance of the West Cork Sports Star Awards.

Denis O’Donovan receives his West Cork Sports Star monthly award from Helen Wycherley (Celtic Ross Hotel). Also included, from left, Kieran McCarthy (sports editor, The Southern Star) and John Paul McNamara (C103).

‘It means everything to get this award. It’s nice to get acknowledged in your own locality after winning a prestigious national championship. I feel very privileged to have been able to compete in the championship and it is a great achievement, considering it is over 30 years since a Cork crew won the series. It’s also nice to have won it twice in three years,’ O’Donovan said.

Terms like ‘non-goers, potti, plot and bash, wrong approach, experts’ is the regular speak within navigation rallying. For the uninitiated, a ‘non-goer’ is a dead end or a road that doesn’t go while a ‘potti’ is a map magnifier with a light that the navigators place over the map to guide them along the route, usually around 85 miles long.

O’Donovan knows the lingo backwards; he is one of the top competitors in the sport of navigation rallying. He began his championship bid with superb results in the four events in Cork – the Cork Startrek, Carbery, Cork 1000 Shakes and the Skibbereen 100 Isles.

‘Home events were key and to have four good results going up the country was a great bonus,’ O’Donovan explained.

But the trip to the penultimate round in Cavan didn’t end too well and a non-finish heaped the pressure on him to win the title. He and Butler had to finish ahead of their title rivals, Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor. Nothing else mattered.

‘The last round in Monaghan was certainly the toughest. We were the underdogs going up there and we were going into their home territory,’ he said, and the final event certainly was close – the Cork crew won the championship by a single point, amassing 100 points.

Navigation rallying takes place in darkness. Most of the route is plotted on a map that links a series of coordinates given out a few hours in advance of the event and it demands total concentration. It’s all about knowing the intricacies of small roads, cattle underpasses and fords. Navigation rallying is mainly the preserve of counties Cork, Cavan and Monaghan.

At the West Cork Sports Star monthly award presentation Southern Star sports editor Kieran McCarthy congratulated O’Donovan on his award and spoke about the popularity of motorsport in West Cork. John Paul McNamara of C103 spoke about Denis’ success and Helen Wycherley of the Celtic Ross Hotel made the presentation. Denis was accompanied by his wife Gretta and their children Donnacha and Aoibheann along with members of their extended family and members of the Skibbereen and District Car Club.